Generally, vortex tubes have been used for local cooling in industrial sites, and commonly used in industrial fields as with compressed air (i.e. a compressor) as a source of force energy.
Further, the vortex tube is a cooling device that simultaneously generates cool and hot air flow without using a mechanical drive and that is used in a manufacturing process in hot industrial sites, such as welding, melting, or the like.
A conventional vortex tube is disclosed in Korean Patent Application Nos. 10-2007-0025237 and 10-2008-0005461.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a conventional vortex tube.
As shown in FIG. 1, the vortex tube includes a main body 10 which has an inlet 15 into which compressed air is injected, a vortex generator 14 which is coupled to the main body 10 so as to generate cool and hot air, an air circulating tube 12 which is coupled to the vortex generator 14, a cover 13 which is coupled to the main body 10, and an adjusting valve 16 and a cap 17 which are coupled to the cover 13.
In the vortex tube, compressed air being injected into the inlet 15 is divided into cold air and hot air while passing though the vortex generator 14 and the air circulating tube 12 so that the hot air is discharged outside through a gap with the adjusting valve 16, which is disposed on one side of the air circulating tube 12 and the cold air is sprayed out through a front nozzle. Here, smooth discharge of the hot air allows improved efficiency of the vortex tube.
FIG. 2 is a conceptual view showing an air inflow in the vortex tube.
According to a vortex theory as shown in FIG. 2, when supplied to the vortex tube, the compressed air is sprayed perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the vortex tube while being guided towards an inner side of a vortex spinning chamber via a nozzle.
The sprayed air forms a vortex such as whirlwind and spins round along an inner wall of the tube and moves to the end of the tube. Here, if a valve at an end of the tube opens a little, a portion of hot air is discharged outside and remaining air flows reversely along the center of the tube while forming a small vortex. The secondarily formed inner vortex loses its heat and is cooled, and is discharged outside via opposite end of the tube.
However, the vortex tube has problems in that hot air that spins externally increases temperature of the main body itself, giving a user burns.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present invention, and is not intended to mean that the present invention falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.